Study: Baby sleep problems may be genetic

Moms, are you looking for ways to keep your infant or toddler from waking up for the day at 5 a.m.? Would you like to have a night where you get more than four consecutive hours of sleep? If so, this blog post will not help you.

In fact, the amount of time your baby sleeps may genetic, according to a new study released this week by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The study, published in the June 2013 issue of Pediatrics, examined nearly 1,000 Canadian twins and found that genetics play a role in how long the children slept at night as infants and toddlers.

The study used data collected for the Quebec Newborn Twin Study on infants born between 1995 and 1998 in the Montreal area. Parents answered questions about their children’s sleeping habits at ages 6, 18, 30 and 48 months. Researchers analyzed the responses and compared the results between fraternal and identical twins to tease out which sleep habits were more influenced by genes, and which by environment.

They found that genetics play a big role in how long children sleep at night, the AAP said. This was especially true for babies and toddlers who are persistently short sleepers. In other words – sorry, weary parents, you’ll just have to wait until they’re older.

So, how much older? Until they’re about 18 months, the study’s authors said. That’s when environmental factors start to surpass genetics and things like sleep training might work better.

The analysis also found that daytime naps are not greatly influenced by genes, so parenting strategies that don’t work at night may have better luck in the daytime. The researchers also says additional study is needed to determine which genes might contribute to persistently short nighttime sleeping.

Parents, what do you think of this report? If you have a short sleeper, have you ever thought it might be genetic?

I did wonder, a lot, actually. I’ve dealt with insomnia for as long as I can remember, and when baby princess came along 18 years ago….she followed in my footsteps. My mom was close, and she frequently remarked that baby girl was sleeping (well, *not* sleeping) just like me. We could NOT get that kid on a schedule- we’d go 3 nights tops, and she’d spend the next night screaming her head off, with nothing wrong that we could find.

The article also brought something else to my attention: we were finally able to get her on a schedule, somewhat, when she was about 18 months. She just turned 18 years last month, and still struggles with sleeping. (Well, I do too, to be honest, *chuckle*)

Can I just say that I wish this information had started coming out 18 years ago? *chuckle*

My third child was not much of a sleeper. During his first year, he woke frequently at night and never settled down for a long nap during the day (instead, he took about five 10-15 minute naps a day). He gave up napping altogether around 18 months old.

Today, he is 12– a brilliant kid on track to graduate high school at 15. He still needs less sleep than anyone in the family. My husband and I need about 8 hours. My other kids need 9-10. But, he only sleeps 6-7 hours at night, jumps out of bed refreshed without an alarm clock, and is active and alert all day.

While I believe it’s absolutely true that some people need more (or less) sleep than others, there are definately things parents can do to promote good sleeping habits. Whenever someone has a ‘good’ sleeper, parents get told they are “just lucky”, but parents whose infants are poor sleepers are told they are doing something wrong. The reality is in the middle. Both mine slept through the night by 6 months and took 2 hour plus naps as toddlers, and a large part of that was because I adhered to a routine/schedule with them and made sure they were home sleeping when they should have been.

All I know is that my daughter never, and I do mean never, slept through the night until she was in kindergarten, while my son slept through the night from the time he came home from the hospital. My parenting techniques were similar for both, and I kept both on a schedule.